Tag Archives: IDRC
Applications now open for LIRNEasia Young Scholar Tutorials, hosted by NUS, Singapore. Click here for info on how to apply.
Incentives not intervention
That is the phrase I brought back from Harvard Forum II that I attended on behalf of LIRNEasia a few weeks back. In 2003 they held Harvard Forum I (which, among the LIRNE.NET group only Alison Gillwald attended). One of the results was the funding of organizations like LIRNEasia that seek to remove policy and regulatory barriers to the use of ICTs.
This time the focus was on “what next.” Implicit was the question whether we need to now focus on applications since the access problem had been solved. In my first intervention I used data from Burma/Myanmar to show that the access problem had not been solved everywhere (interestingly this resonated with Amartya Sen who had spent his youth there). Many more interesting things were said particularly by the other Nobel Laureate in the room, Michael Spence (I have a LBO column coming based on that discussion), but still the phrase that stuck in my mind was that of Laurent Elder: incentives, not intervention.
Here is what Hernan Galperin of DIRSI had commented. He has included all the links to the real-time blogging and commenting that Ethan Zuckerman did.
IDRC features LIRNEasia Lead Economist in its annual report
Lead Economist, Harsha de Silva and the AgInfo work that he has been leading at LIRNEasia has been featured in the International Development Research Centre’s (IDRC) 2008-2009 Annual Report. Read the full feature here (page 16)
Be it resolved that mobiles have the potential to be the most transformative ICT for developing countries
Today (16th June 2009) if you were to google “great mobile debate” you will only see references to one held as part of the Forum Oxford Future Technologies Conference 2008. But if the people who ran and attended the IDRC PANall conference in Penang last week are as netsavvy as I think they are, you are likely to see Great Mobile Debate of Penang supplanting the Oxford debate in google searches.
The proposition won. I was the proponent, so not entirely unbiased, but it did, as evidenced by the cheering and the congratulations that followed. Given this was a topic that fully resonated with LIRNEasia’s 2008-10 research program, it was understandable that we won. The slides that were used are here.
In the opening statement, I showed that the mobile is the only ICT actually reaching the poor and that it is both transforming their lives and they are transforming it. I also showed that there was some “more-than-voice” use even now, but the immense potential was evident if we looked at how different age cohorts were with regard to knowledge, trial and use.
The opponent Rafal Rohozinski’s arguments can be viewed in the following ..read more
So what?
Our primary funder IDRC is having a big gathering of all its Asian fundees in Penang. As one of the main plenary events, they conducted a “talk show” with representatives of three of their leading projects in the region. Helani Galpaya participated in this talk show from LIRNEasia. At the conclusion, she was asked the following question: “we do not just fund good research, we ask what it will yield for development; we ask so what?”
She answered, saying that the good use made of resources entrusted to LIRNEasia could be illustrated through three examples: 1. The 2007 intervention that resulted in the rolling back of the regressive LKR 50 tax that was to be imposed by the government of Sri Lanka on all SIMs, resulting in all mobile users paying below LKR 1800 keeping more money in their pockets and not being blocked from teleuse. 2. The multi-year effort to remove distortions from the Indian Universal Service funding mechanism that collected money from those at the bottom at the pyramid and did not spend it as intended, directing most of it to an inefficient government-owned incumbent. 3. The protracted effort to convince the government of Indonesia ..read more
How do we know we’re doing well?
As a results-oriented organization, that is a question LIRNEasia has always been interested in. The discipline that seeks to answer that question is evaluation. They recently held a conference in Sri Lanka.
We are ratcheting up our emphasis on evaluation now that we have a substantial body of work to talk about. A key element in this will be Chanuka Wattegama’s participation in the most important evaluation training program currently being offered, the International Program for Development Evaluation Training offered every Summer at Carleton University in Ottawa, with the cooperation of the World Bank and IDRC. Chanuka has been selected for a scholarship through a competitive process. Our congratulations to him.
Call for Papers: Infrastructure Regulation – What works, Why, and How do we know?
A conference entitled, ‘Infrastructure Regulation: What works, Why, and How do we know?’, is being organized by LIRNEasia, together with the Institute of Water Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore and the University of Hong Kong, to be held from 26 – 27 February, 2009, at the University of Hong Kong.
Sponsored by the IDRC, Canada, the conference will bring together distinguished scholars and practitioners who are experts in the area to address essential issues in regulations through conceptual and empirical studies.
The conference will address the following questions: Does regulation work? What kind of regulation works? What kinds don’t work? Why do some forms of regulation work and not others? How do we know whether they work or not? How do we isolate the effects of different political, economic and legal contexts? Are there systematic differences among water, telecommunications, energy and transport infrastructure that necessitate particular regulatory design?
Proposals including a short abstract (500 words), professional position and contact email address must reach the organizers by 5 December 2008. Please send proposals to regulate[at]hku.hk. A limited number of travel grants covering the cost of travel, accommodation, and meals are available to participants on a competitive basis.
More information on the conference, including its ..read more
Evaluation in Practice
Development organizations are pressed to demonstrate that their programs result in significant lasting changes in the well-being of their intended beneficiaries. However, such “impacts” are often the product of a confluence of events for which no single agency or group of agencies can realistically claim full credit. As a result, assessing development impacts is problematic, yet many organizations continue to struggle to measure results far beyond the reach of their programs.
Outcome Mapping is one methodology used to address this issue. The originality of this approach lies in its shift away from assessing the products of a program to focus on changes in behaviour, relationships, actions, and activities in the people, groups, and organizations it works with directly. In doing so, Outcome Mapping debunks many of the myths about measuring impact. It will help a program be specific about the actors it targets, the changes it expects to see, and the strategies it employs and, as a result, be more effective in terms of the results it achieves.
This video, by International Development Research Center (IDRC) Canada, is based on the workshop on ‘Evaluation’ for their partners held in Kuala Lumpur, last November. Outcome Mapping was a key theme discussed at ..read more
Coverage for LIRNEasia book
Click on the links to see the full articles covering LIRNEasia’s book, ICT Infrastructure in Emerging Asia: Policy and Regulatory Roadblocks.
‘BSNL’s monopoly over infrastructure a hindrance to growth’ – Financial Express (India)
Rural connectivity is now the focus of every telecommunication player in the country. Almost all stakeholders, from handset manufacturers to service providers, believe that the next wave of growth is in the rural areas.”However, India’s roll out (of telecom services) in rural areas has been slow. BSNL has the backbone infrastructure but is not yet ready to share it with private players,” he added.
Do Policy & Regulation Matter?
Nov 17, 2005, infoDev session, organized in partnership with IDRC A panel of distinguished experts responded to this broad question dealing with what role policymakers and regulators can play in balancing the public interest and fostering a flexible environment for ICT innovations. Rohan Samarajiva’s response is available as a video. [please allow file to load completely before playing] Moderator: William Melody, LIRNE.NET, Center for ICT, Technical University of Denmark Panelists: 1. Muna Nijem, Chair, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, Jordan 2. Eng. Alaa Fahmy, Executive President, National Telecom Regulatory Authority, Egypt 3. Jean-Michel Hubert, French Ambassador to WSIS 4. Ronaldo Balsinde, European Telecom Practice Leader, McKinsey & Co. 5. Rohan Samarajiva, Executive Director, LIRNEasia VIDEO [6 minutes] 6. Donald Abelson, Director, International Department, Federal Communications Commisison, USA
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